Software engineering is a delicate business — there is no room for mistakes and omissions. Even a very small error may lead to the loss of lives, time, and money, like in the case of Thorac-25. A simple programming error caused six radiation-overdose accidents resulting in at least two deaths and several injuries. An example like this highlights the importance of exhaustive software testing.

Configuration management (CM) is a critical part of test management, and software testers must choose test management software that has robust features. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at configuration management in software testing and some of the things to look for in the SCM process.

Definition of configuration management

Configuration management (CM) is a process that allows you to identify the components that make up a product or system. 3rd-party applications, source code, test scripts, data, hardware, and documentation typically make up these components.

The meticulous, comprehensive, and careful maintenance of these components throughout the project and product lifecycle is a critical component of CM.

In software testing, configuration management or SCM helps organizations manage the changes made to their software. Essentially, SCM involves the initiation and tracking of software problems and change requests, analysis of change impacts, version control, security administration of software assets, software promotion, and quality assurance.
 

SCM is a key part of the software development process and helps to ensure that the software is always up-to-date and consistent across all environments.

Why is it important?

CM provides several benefits to organizations whose processes are powered by IT. The following are just some of the benefits:

• It enables project and asset management, asset auditing, and optimum software development.
• With software errors accounting for an alarming $1.56 trillion in operating costs every year, having detailed knowledge of every element of your system can help you reduce costs and deliver higher-quality services.
• Allows for fast detection and correction of improper components that could negatively impact performance for your customers and employees.
• It ensures that asset identification, monitoring, and auditing are strictly controlled by formal policies and procedures.
• Documented and automated changes enable you to recover quickly from an outage.
• CM results in an improved release management process.
• SCM is useful if multiple people are working on software that is being updated continuously.
• A configuration management tool will make software projects seamless, especially when multiple versions, branches, and authors work concurrently across a distributed team.
• It makes it easy to allow for changes in user requirements, policies, budgets, and schedules.
• Enhances coordination between stakeholders.

Tasks in the SCM process

The SCM process is a set of activities that are performed to manage the configuration of IT assets. These activities are:
 

• Configuration Identification 

Configuration identification is the first task in configuration management in the software testing process. It involves identifying the properties that describe each component of a configuration item (in SCM, this is usually a software product). These properties are documented and baselined in configuration documents.
 

• Baselines

The next step is configuration baseline creation. Baselines describe what each specific product or system should look like at a given point in time, or when it was last updated. These baselines can be checked during future releases to ensure that new changes have not altered any existing functionality. It can only be altered through proper change control processes.
 

• Change control

Next up on this list of tasks is change control, which refers to keeping track of all changes made to products throughout their lifecycle so that you can ensure that all changes are logged and approved before going live. The goal here is to ensure that no unnecessary changes were made and that there is no disruption of services or misuse of resources.
 

• Configuration status accounting

In this stage, information is recorded and reported that is needed for effective software development and quality assurance management. The information gathered here is used to determine the health of an application, identify issues that need to be resolved, and assist in making decisions about changes that should be made.

• Configuration audits and reviews

Audits and reviews are conducted here to ensure that the software satisfies the baseline needs, meets the requirements of their business processes and applications, are available for use at all times, and is free from security threats.

Example of configuration management

Configuration management and DevOps go hand in hand. To optimize software for quality performance, the development team needs an understanding of the production environment and its requirements.

An example of how this works in a DevOps environment is when hybrid and multi-cloud services and assets are used. Using a Configuration Management System (CMS), organizations identify configuration states, control changes, and audit their processes to ensure compliance and validity. 

CMS solutions will enable accurate identification, tracking, management, and control of configurations across different SDLC stages, projects, and even departments within the organization.

Conclusion

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand better the purpose of configuration management and how it can help you create the perfect IT product for your users. 

At aqua cloud, we can help you with all aspects of SCM, from setting up your test environment to managing your test data.

Get in touch today and enjoy the advantage of streamlined testing.